


Burn It Down Twice

by ralsbecket



Series: Stuckony Stockings [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Difference, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. References, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blow Jobs, Double Agents, Hydra Steve Rogers, Kidnapped Tony Stark, M/M, Multi, Somnophilia, Song: Mount Everest (Labrinth), Twink Tony Stark, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:28:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29556354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ralsbecket/pseuds/ralsbecket
Summary: It was Howard’s own fault, really. He’d forced Steve’s hand, brought it upon himself and his family. HYDRA needed to steal back the formula and make the Starks disappear.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Stuckony Stockings [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162682
Comments: 10
Kudos: 40
Collections: Stuckony Love Letters





	Burn It Down Twice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [treesramblings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/treesramblings/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [treesramblings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/treesramblings/pseuds/treesramblings) in the [Stuckony_server_love_letters](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Stuckony_server_love_letters) collection. 



> A/N: For tree, and these prompts in the Stuckony stockings: innocent!Tony and "Hydra Cap secretly runs HYDRA. His right hand man is the Winter Soldier, who does the risky missions Steve can’t be caught doing. After finding out Howard replicated Erskine’s formula, Steve sends the Soldier out to murder him and Maria. James comes back with a young boy that he couldn’t bear to kill, and Steve takes one look at him before he decides this boy is _his_ "

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Burj Dubai ain't got shit on me  
> You could touch the sky, but you ain't got shit on me  
> 'Cause I'm on top of the world  
> I'm on top of the world, yeah”  
> \- Labrinth, _Mount Everest_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word Count: 1,514
> 
> A/N: ~~I most definitely spent too much time doing wiki research for the backstory on this oops~~ This chapter is primarily exposition, and ch2 will be all the good ole smutty smut (with bonus art ::eyes::)

If the world regarded the Winter Soldier as a ghost story, then the reality of the man behind Captain America had definitely been one goddamn secret. Steve Rogers was once only known as the skinny kid from Brooklyn who was chosen for Project Rebirth, the hero who defeated the Red Skull, and later a co-founder of SHIELD alongside Chester Phillips, Peggy Carter, and Howard Stark.

He originally served as Commander of Field Operations before becoming Peggy’s Deputy Director, around when the organization expanded via Operation Paperclip. They’d recruited countless scientists from Nazi-Germany just to keep them away from the Soviet Union, including one Arnim Zola. It was around the mid-‘50s when Steve started hearing chatter of sleeper agents with ties to HYDRA having infiltrated SHIELD.

One of the lower level security chiefs, Daniel Sousa, had mentioned it to Wilfred Malick, who in turn brought it to Steve’s attention. “He’s convinced that HYDRA agents have fallen into the fringe ranks, sir,” Malick informed him one day.

Steve wove his fingers together, pressing them to his lips as he considered, “And he trusts you?”

“As far as I can tell, I’m the only one he's mentioned it to thus far,” Malick replied.

“Good, Freddy, that’s good.” Steve leaned back into his chair, raising his chin slightly. “In your professional opinion, how much of a threat would Sousa be to the operation?”

“Credibly so. You know as much as anyone that he has an in with the Director. And if _she_ ever found out…”

There was really only one thing that Steve could do after hearing that, of course, and that was to save his own ass: “Inform our dear Dr. Zola that we’ll be needing to wake up the Asset. I’m assigning him a target.”

Malick’s eyes widened. “I can just have some of my guys cross him off. Are you sure that’s necessary, Commander?”

“Oh, yes.” Steve smirked, huffing out a laugh from his nose. “They’re… old friends of mine.”

And just like that, Steve had continued the secrecy of HYDRA’s rebirth with the snap of his fingers. One week later, Agent Sousa was reportedly shot to death and found floating in a hotel pool on the west coast.

Steve played up the mournful superior role, vowing not to leave any stone unturned in search for the goons who’d killed one of SHIELD’s best agents. He told Howard and Peggy just as much, leaving headquarters for days at a time when he was really only traveling to Siberia to observe the HYDRA facility located there.

He stood in front of Bucky Barnes’ cryostasis chamber for a long minute, staring through the frosted window at his pale, emotionless face. Steve raised a hand to the chamber, flattening his palm against the glass. “How’s his pain?”

“Excruciating, if his screams during the mind-wipes indicate anyth –” The doctor cut off his small bout of laughter, clearing his throat awkwardly when Steve turned his head to glare at him menacingly. “Uh – we… we don’t really ask him, sir. Not like he remembers much of it, anyway.”

He figured as much, but it never made him any less concerned. Even from the beginning, after Zola’s recruitment and finding out about that Bucky was being stored in suspended animation. Using Bucky – the Winter Soldier to accomplish the missions Steve couldn’t be caught doing was the only way for him to keep his cover with SHIELD.

Steve gave one last, fleeting look at Bucky before pivoting on his heel and out of the room.

The next time he saw Bucky, it was the Saturday morning after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Well, really, “saw” was a relative term. He’d felt him before he’d even opened his eyes; Steve had woken up with his blood pleasingly hot in his veins and his soul practically being sucked out of his dick.

He came down Bucky’s throat with a guttural moan, hands finding purchase in the man’s hair as he milked him through the orgasm. Steve blinked away the spots swimming in his eyes, staring at the ceiling before finding the strength to look down. Bucky had his metal hand around the base of Steve’s cock, still licking around the tip with broad strokes.

“Oh, _shit_ , Buck,” Steve gasped breathlessly. “Good morning to you too. What are – ?”

“I had to see you.” Bucky surged up to claim Steve’s lips, licking into his mouth as if he’d die otherwise. Steve groaned at the heady taste of himself on Bucky’s tongue, curling around his. He pulled back with a wet smack, shifting to lick and bite at the skin of Steve’s neck. “Handler never showed in Dallas,” he muttered against Steve, “but I remembered –”

Steve shook his head, finally pulling his head out of the post-orgasmic haze. “Wait, stop – you’ve –” He braced an arm against Bucky’s chest, pushing back enough to look his lover in the eyes. “You’ve been out of cryo too long.”

Bucky looked right back at him, grey-blue eyes clear and present and _warm_. The two of them stared for a few moments longer before Bucky pointed out, “You aged.”

“What?” Steve squawked, brows knitting together.

“Your face,” Bucky said, raising his right hand to trace his fingertips along Steve’s skin. “These lines make you look… older.”

Steve scoffed under his breath as Bucky settled his weight on top of him. “Yeah, well, no one stays looking twenty-seven forever, super-soldier or no.”

It remained quiet as Bucky regarded him, the ghost of a smile tugging at his lips. The glint of happiness was gone in the next second. “I missed you.”

Steve’s teeth clicked when he flexed his jaw. “You should go, Buck.”

“Soon,” he breathed, dipping his head to suck a deep bruise to the hollow of Steve’s throat, twisting his fingers into blond hair.

“I can’t – fuck – I can’t keep you safe here. If SHIELD finds out –” He let out a short groan when Bucky tugged at his hair, baring his skin. Steve’s eyes fell shut when Bucky started biting along the column of his neck.

“ _Soon_ ,” Bucky all but growled against his skin.

For the better part of the century, Steve Rogers was able to rebuild HYDRA from within SHIELD without anyone being the wiser. They’d grown enough in power to orchestrate many events from the Cold War well into the ‘90s. He was meticulously careful about everything, allying with people like Alexander Pierce and John Garrett, with the Winter Soldier as his right hand. (He was Captain America, for fuck’s sake, the epitome of freedom and power and virtue; nobody even suspected him to be pulling the strings.)

Thanks to Erskine’s serum, he’d remained considerably youthful, practically at his prime. Steve watched everyone around him age on both sides of the aisle; Peggy, Howard, Freddy, Hank Pym, Mitchell Carson, Daniel Whitehall, all of their faces becoming wrinkled and hairs turning grey. Ironically enough, it was the least of his worries after he found out that Howard was messing with things he wasn’t supposed to.

Pym had confronted Howard in front of everyone one day, accusing him of attempting to recreate his particles, among other things. The further Steve dug into it by buttering him up or accessing restricted files, he realized that while Howard struggled with the Pym Particles, he’d successfully remade the original super-soldier serum.

It was Howard’s own fault, really. He’d forced Steve’s hand, brought it upon himself and his family. HYDRA needed to steal back the formula and make the Starks disappear. It had to look like an accident, and Steve knew it couldn’t be traced back to him in any way, so he made sure to bide his time.

Christmas holiday of 1991 was when Steve ordered Vasily Karpov to sic the Winter Soldier on the Starks.

The only thing Steve didn’t anticipate, however, was finding Bucky in his house again in the dead of night. He’d grabbed his pistol and made his way to the living room when he started hearing noises, more confused than surprised to see his better half hovering near the couch.

“Bucky?” he questioned, lowering the gun in his hand. “What – what the _fuck_ are you doing here?”

“The mission, I – I failed it,” Bucky admitted, his voice tinged with something Steve hadn’t ever heard before – remorse. “I couldn’t kill him.”

Steve discarded the gun onto a chair, walking towards Bucky cautiously. “Howard? What do you mean you couldn’t kill – ?”

“Not… not Howard. His parents are dead.” A pregnant pause. “God, Stevie, I couldn’t _kill_ him. He begged so _sweet_.”

“What the hell are you talk – ?”

Steve saw him when he rounded the side of the couch, the boy’s arms tied loosely behind his back. His dark hair was messy, falling into his eyes and curling at the nape of his neck. His chest rose and fell slowly, matching the way Steve’s moved.

It might have been a few years since he’d seen Howard’s son, but all it took was one look at Tony Stark for Steve to decide the boy was _his_.

**Author's Note:**

> [Check out my linktree for tumblr, discord, and other socials!](https://linktr.ee/ralsbecket)


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